therosecottage

Happy Holidays

2008-12-23T09:22:00.000-08:00

To friends near and far, have a peaceful holiday season and a wonderful New Year!

I will not be using this blog anymore, please feel to visit me at my other blog
Her Creative Spirit

Lynn

Two Christmas Swap Packages in one week!

2008-12-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

I have recently participated in four different swaps for the holidays, and I so enjoyed making handcrafted items for my partners. Now I am recieving some beautiful, beautiful gifts in the mail. I had two packages this week, one day after the other.
Take a look at this beautiful hanging collage made by Jewel of Shabby Boutique. I can just see all the love she put into this :)

Jewel was my Secret Santa in our Secret Santa Scavenger Swap at our Etsy Cottage Style group.
I was given someone else to send to, and Jewel of course was recieving from another Secret Santa, so no one knew who was sending to them until the packages started arriving. It was a lot of fun :)
Along with the gorgeous collage, Jewel sent me other lovelies. She decorated a beautiful bottle and fixed on a label in French wishing me a Happy Christmas and New Year, sooooo shabby chic.
She made this lovely card using glitter too.

See the snowman below. It is a shabby chic paperweight. Jewel colored the snowman and made the paper weight for me and I just love it. She also sent me some of her hand made gift tags, and a bag full of shabby trims and seam binding, and some vintage micka flakes which were from her Grandmothers stash :)

What is the green paper cutter doing in the photo? I put that there to show Jewel that she lost one, it was in with the packing peanuts LOL. Just incase she wondered where it was when she needed a new blade.

I am so happy with my beautiful gifts, thank you Jewel :)

A day later I recieved my Very Vintage Christmas Swap package from Susan. This swap was organised by Heidi at Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly

Susan who's blog is Sweetpea Sue's Cottage has sent me some beautiful vintage and handmade items too, let me show you :)

I first noticed this lovely vintage tin because it has one of my all time favorite vintage images on it of the children looking out from the window at the snow, I just love it. The tin was filled with little tags made by Susan and a vintage Christmas postcard, along with gorgeous vintage lace and trims.... woohooo... my favorite stuff :) Just look at the way she presented them too, I thought that was soooooo lovely on the cinnamon sticks with the little gold balls. I got vintage buttons too!

Below is a picture of everything together, isn't the top of the tin gorgeous, I just LOVE vintage santas. There are handmade Christmas balls, in the colors of my tree, a sweet hanging santa made from felt, a candle in cranberry, my favorite, and some tiny little handmade ornaments too, ohhhhh and chocolate :)

See the vintage style snowman, I took a close shot of him below because I love him so much.

Here he is, beside's Vintage Santa's and Children, I love Vintage Snowmen, and he looks just like one you would see in a clip art, isn't he awesome? He went right away on my tree:)

Thank you Susan for my wonderful gifts, you really did spoil me, and I know that having read your blog you are going through a hard time right now too, so I really do appreciate it all the more.

I think my next post is my 100th, so am still thinking of a giveaway prize to celebrate. I guess I better not post again until I can come up with the right thing LOL. Until then, take care and take time out of the day to do something nice for yourselves :)

Cottage Style Shopping

2008-12-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

Christmas and holiday shopping at it's best on the Etsy Cottage Style blog! This wonderful group of etsy sellers is showcasing their talent on the blog until mid December. Make sure to stop by and shop, and leave a comment at Etsy Cottage Style

Vintage Linen Treasures

2008-11-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

As most of you know I have a thing for vintage linens. I collect them, and I sell them on Etsy at The Rose Cottage, although lately I have been so busy with decorating, and my new puppy I havn't kept it up, until now, I feel like getting busy with my Etsy shop again.

I fell in love with the above wonderful grouping of linens which is a blog Giveaway at
Vintage Linen Treasures , and so I had to share with you. You have until December 7th to enter so hurry on over there and see all the details. Patricia sells the most beautiful vintage linens I have ever seen both on Ebay and at her own webshop. Visit them both, you will be happy you did :)

Here are a few items available in my Etsy shop right now.

A beautiful hand stitched finger tip towel

Crisp white with pale blue cutwork napkins

And the sweetest baby pillowcase and cotton doily

The Rose Cottage Etsy Shop

is always open :)

Speaking of giveaways, I am just posting my 97th blog post, so that means 100 posts is coming up very soon, so keep checking back for a giveaway from me to celebrate my 100th post.

Have a great weekend

Lynn

The Rose Cottage Guest Room

2008-11-26T18:38:00.000-08:00

The Rose Cottage guest room is finally looking like something. This has been a slow project but I do have a beautiful sleigh bed to put my gorgeous Rachel Ashwell quilt on.

The walls are a pale yellow but sorry the pictures make the bed look almost yellow too, it is actually an off white and I love it! We ended up going with a queen size so my quilt would fit, and I have a white duvet under the quilt to make the bed look nice and fluffy. The pillow shams were 50c each at the thrift store, and are in perfect condition, and most of the pillows I made myself.

I call it The Rose Cottage Room, because I purchased the sign above the bed, ohhhhh, so long ago now, on Etsy, just for this room.

This was my daughters room before she moved out, we ripped up the dirty white carpet and had hardwood floors put down, and I just love them. The side tables are from a bedroom set we purchased when we got married 28 years ago which have since been painted.

Still waiting for the curtain rods so I can hang the curtains, so you will notice I am not showing the windows yet, I also need to hang more on the walls, but even so I am just loving this room. It is such a bright sunny room on days that we have any sunshine of course, so the soft colors are just perfect there.

As for my puppy, look how he is growing. I took this a week ago after I bought him a coat. It is a little big around the neck so I had to roll it over , but he will grow into it in no time, he has already doubled his size and weight in 4 weeks.

He is the main reason why I am slow at getting things accomplished these days, but I don't care, I am just so in love with him and he brings us so much joy :) I can really see the Maltese in him now, his face is so much like a Maltese puppy but it is hard to see because he is so black.

New blog on the block

2008-11-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

I have to share a new blog which I just came across this morning.

Daily Art Stop has a weekly schedule Monday to Friday

Mondays are dedicated to all Foodies.
Tuesdays are for decor trends.
Wednesdays will be a challenge.
Thursdays will have a fun project to make.
Fridays are for great finds.

Today's post is all about vignettes, which I didn't realise but I do have a few around the house that I have taken pictures of in the past for blog, flickr etc, so here are a few

This is the end table in my living room, and I think it looks pretty boring in this photo, I have added a few things to it since taking this photo, but still, it is a vignette right?

I have an old shabby cottage style buffet and hutch and I love to make little vignettes on there with my vintage china and more. Here is a little creamer I got for $2 at the thrift shop, the pearls were 25c, and the faux confections were from a swap I was in last Valentines.
This is how I changed it slightly at Easter :)
And here is a Fall vignette with my Fall bears gifted to me by my favorite Aunty Su :) I add faux pumpkins and berries.

SO..... I didn't realise just how much I do make vignettes, thank you Diane, you have inspired me from your blog this morning to do more, it's a relaxing pastime. I recently decorated my daughter's bedroom and turned it into a Rose Cottage bedroom , gone with the black and pink, ripped out the carpet and painted the walls yellow. Will show you soon, I have to make some vignettes first :)

Pink Snowman Giveaway

2008-11-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

Want to win this sweet hand crafted Christmas Giveaway? Then visit Judy at her blog
Prim 2 Pink and read all about it.

Such a wonderful day

2008-11-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had a day when all the simple pleasures in life just filled you with joy ? I have and I had a great Friday. First of all I woke up feeling refreshed for a change, that really helps, plus the sun was shining, which really helps too.

I hadn't been out in over a week and I really felt the need, hubby offered to watch little Cooper for me before he had to go to a business meeting, and so I decided to go shopping. I don't like to leave Cooper alone too long , he is still so young. So off I went , driving on the highway playing some funky must, and drove to Michael's. I spent two hours there (easy to do), bought a ton of stuff, most of it on sale of course. They must be feeling the economic pinch too , even Christmas decorations were on sale at 40 and 50% off.

I then took myself for a coffee and a muffin and off I went to Home Sense, my favorite home store, did a little shopping there too, not as much as usual, a few Christmas things. Felt tired, so I came home and 5 mins later the mail man was at the door with a very large sized parcel for me. I knew right away it was from Kimberly who was my swap partner in a Fairy Swap at Etsy Cottage Style, and I could barely wait to open it.

When I opened the box look what was in there

She made me this beautiful wall hanging from vintage fabrics and trim, the embroidery pieces were stitched by her mom before she died. How special is that? This beautiful piece of art goes perfectly in my newly decorated guest room because it is all yellow, pinks and whites, and I am thrilled with it.

She also made me the sweetest victorian style pin cushion, and I love pincushions I have them all over the place so I can always find a pin when I need one :) This is made from natural died silks , which is one of Kimberly's specialties and I adore it.

Besides that she sent me enough German Glass Glitter to last me a lifetime, something I have never used before, and some tags to play with, what a beautiful package. Now what about that Fairy?

Kimberly tells me later she is really a Water Nymph, and this is the first doll she has ever made, and she made it for ME? I am honored , I really am, and she is amazing look....

All hand died fabrics and hair, and such beautiful detail on her bodice, she wears the most beautiful skirt of hand died silks. Kimberly says her husband kept giving her heck because she didn't have a face, but in the end, she won. I think it should be up to the artist anyway don't you?

A couple of close up photos of the details , what a lot of work. I have made dolls before so I can appreciate all the time spent on this creation.

Ms Nymph (she has no name yet) decided to lay down on my deck because I was taking too long with the photos *giggle*

It was such a nice afternoon yesterday. I played for ages outside with my little Cooper who just loves the grass and chasing leaves, then hubby came home. He had two dozen peachy colored roses for me :) WOW, I couldn't stand all these surprises, I was already on cloud nine. He then grilled the best tasting fillet of steak with potatoes (my favorite) and we had a huge salad with it, oh and let's not forget the wine, I tried a new one from New Zealand , it's called "Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry Bush".

I just had to take a photo of it I think it's hilarious. I really really like it too , and, I know, we had steak, but I can't drink red wine. I love a nice dry white, and this is sooooo good :)

What a lovely day I had, thank you Kimberly so much , and thank you Vince for making my day even more special, I love you so much!

And of course, I love you too Cooper :)

Finding some balance

2008-11-13T12:21:00.000-08:00

What have I been up to ? Trying to find balance in my days with a new puppy, but after almost two weeks we are really getting somewhere. Cooper hangs out with me while I work in my studio and that's where I have been a lot lately. I am involved in 4 Christmas swaps at the moment, yep 4 and so I have been busy making gifts.

I can show you the things I have for my Secret Santa Scanvenger Swap at Etsy Cottage Style, because, well, it's a secret, we don't know who our partners are. It's been such fun posting pictures of what we are sending yet we don't know who will recieve it until it arrives on our doorstep.

For the Scavenger Swap we were to do this:
Make or buy,
Something with red and green on it (my little gift tags)
Something with the word snow on it (a collage wall hanging)
Something with an Angel on it (my angel ornament)
Something oh so Shabby Cottage Style (pink chenille heart with vintage pin)
Something in your favorite media (Altered notebook)
I just love this idea, thanks to Debbie for hosting this swap :)

The Angel is a vintage clip art which I glued to a popsicle stick, then sewed and glued some skirts of tuile and vintage doily. I found the little wings in a craft shop and thought they were adorable. Her arms are attached with brads, and she can be hung on a tree or used as a tree topper for a small tree.

I love to cover and alter note books or journals, and this one was no exception. This vintage Angel is beautiful and she could even be used for Valentines too. I thought this notebook could really be used all year round. You can find the free Angel image at my friend Carolyn's blog Magpie Pixie

Next I want to share with you this beautiful tussie mussie I have made for another of the swaps. I won't say which one incase the recipient is around LOL. I have wanted to make another tussie mussie for ages now. The first one i ever made was covered in fabric, but this one is paper. I made it on one of the hard paper mache cones and filled it with bits of vintage Christmas decorations I got last year at the thrift shop. I just love how it turned out.

I have no idea why my photos always looks so dark on my blog, I even brightened them. Below is the full length. The pearls on the tussie mussie are all vintage earrings, I try to pick some up whenever I am thrift shopping, they come in so useful.

I still have some more gifts to make, and then I would love to make a tussie mussie for my own home, and also rev up my sewing machine to make more stockings and hopefully a Santa :) I just LOVE Santa.

And on that note, here is a Vintage Santa image for you to use in your Christmas projects. Just click on the picture and save as from the page that opens.

There's a new baby in the house

2008-10-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

I think the best way for me to get over the loss of Andy is this little guy :) I would like you to meet Cooper our new fur baby. He is a Morkie, which is a mix of a Yorkie and a Maltese. You can find Morkies in so many colors. I have had two golden haired dogs, I didn't want a white one so black was my next choice. Cooper is 8 1/2 weeks old and only 2lbs right now.

He takes a lot of short naps and that's about the only time I get to do anything right now. I am sleep deprived right now too, he has only spent three nights with us, but last night was the best. I got to sleep until 5am :) Hoping tonight will be even better.

Of course, he will never replace Andy, just as Andy could never replace our first pooch Ceasar who was a blonde cocker spaniel, they each have there own character. One thing is always the same though, they all give you SO much love :)

My husband wanted to me to wait a while longer and maybe I should have but too late, done now. I saw a photo of this little guy in an advertisement and had to go see him. When I did go see him I had to bring him home.

October is almost over but you can still click on The Breast Cancer website in my sidebar and donate a free mammogram, let's do all we can to find a cure for this disease. I am so sad to say that another friend of mine has just been diagnosed :(

And don't forget ladies ......